http://www.tomshardware.com/news/asem-efix...eleon,8617.html
People who paid for the EFI-X paid for a DRM USB Key with Chameleon/Boot-132 code....
Full Version: EFI-X a scam?
I feel sorry for these people 
So anyone can basically make their own EFI-X with a regular USB stick? Is it time consuming to make one?
Sorry for sounding so dumb
Sorry for sounding so dumb
dam that sucks' and i was thinkin of getting one, im very happy i did not! guess it pays to wait.
This doesn't surprise me one bit.
Not that much of a surprise, nor does it really seem like a scam if the company had been open about what they were doing. I think the same thing is at work with some of the USB drives sold to 'jailbreak' Apple TVs, its software that you could use yourself except they have provided you a convenience by setting it up on a USB drive that is ready to go, and in the case of EFI-X in a form that can be plugged straight into an unused USB header on your motherboard.
If the company had made it fairly clear that they were just providing convenience and support for existing software it would have been fine.
If the company had made it fairly clear that they were just providing convenience and support for existing software it would have been fine.
this is bad from ASEM, $10 at cost, $280 retail...wow!! nice margins for ASEM.
i know Boz raved about these things, so his thoughts on the matter would be nice to here as this will directly concern him.
also, after reading the article, i find it ridiculous that after it all ASEM are looking to sue AsereBLN.
but they charge £280 dollars for it according to the article... surely that can be called a scam.
i know Boz raved about these things, so his thoughts on the matter would be nice to here as this will directly concern him.
also, after reading the article, i find it ridiculous that after it all ASEM are looking to sue AsereBLN.
Quote - (Stetson @ Sep 8 2009, 23:58) 
Not that much of a surprise, nor does it really seem like a scam. I think the same thing is at work with some of the USB drives sold to 'jailbreak' Apple TVs, its software that you could use yourself except they have provided you a convenience by setting it up on a USB drive that is ready to go, and in the case of EFI-X in a form that can be plugged straight into an unused USB header on your motherboard.
but they charge £280 dollars for it according to the article... surely that can be called a scam.
Quote - (houlty @ Sep 9 2009, 10:58)
this is bad from ASEM, $10 at cost, $280 retail...wow!! nice margins for ASEM.
i know Boz raved about these things, so his thoughts on the matter would be nice to here as this will directly concern him.
also, after reading the article, i find it ridiculous that after it all ASEM are looking to sue AsereBLN.
i know Boz raved about these things, so his thoughts on the matter would be nice to here as this will directly concern him.
also, after reading the article, i find it ridiculous that after it all ASEM are looking to sue AsereBLN.
thats true, i hope they get sued for using open source code!!!
Basically, it's nothing more than a USB stick with built-in DRM. That really sucks. From the article, it says the cost of manufacturing these EFI-X modules is a mere $10.
Check this out: http://www.expresshd.com/
I came across that website after searching "EFI-X" on Google. The V1 model sells for $189.99 and the V1.1 model sells for $239.99. It's a shame because I'm sure people bought this thinking it would be a "Boot Processing Unit (BPU)". I had a bad feeling about this since I first heard about it.
Check this out: http://www.expresshd.com/
I came across that website after searching "EFI-X" on Google. The V1 model sells for $189.99 and the V1.1 model sells for $239.99. It's a shame because I'm sure people bought this thinking it would be a "Boot Processing Unit (BPU)". I had a bad feeling about this since I first heard about it.
Quote - (houlty @ Sep 8 2009, 23:59)
but they charge £280 dollars for it according to the article... surely that can be called a scam.
They can charge however much they want for their product/service as long as its clear what that product/service is. I think in this case the scam is that they didn't attribute the software to its rightful creators and by being so opaque about the workings of the device led people to believe that it was something proprietary.
I'm not surprised one bit. A lot of people in the OSX86 community had a pretty good idea this is what they were doing
I'd agree with you if the EFI-X was 100% custom code they wrote themselves but they stole everything...
Quote - (Stetson @ Sep 8 2009, 19:06)
They can charge however much they want for their product/service as long as its clear what that product/service is. I think in this case the scam is that they didn't attribute the software to its rightful creators and by being so opaque about the workings of the device led people to believe that it was something proprietary.
I'd agree with you if the EFI-X was 100% custom code they wrote themselves but they stole everything...
Interview with Davide Rutigliano CEO of Art Studios Entertainment Maker of EFi-X - Published 21/01 - 2009 - from testfreaks.com
hahaha LIES LIES LIES
Quote -
8. TF: What is your company’s stance on the linking of the EFiX BPU to the Hackintosh/OSX86 world?
DR: Although I don’t have any personal grudge towards them, linking us to them is not correct. Our approach is entirely different, and contrarily to them all our code and development is our own only, and we don’t hack anything at all. What we have (even our bugs!
) has been created only for us.
DR: Although I don’t have any personal grudge towards them, linking us to them is not correct. Our approach is entirely different, and contrarily to them all our code and development is our own only, and we don’t hack anything at all. What we have (even our bugs!
) has been created only for us.hahaha LIES LIES LIES
Quote - (Stetson @ Sep 9 2009, 00:06)
They can charge however much they want for their product/service as long as its clear what that product/service is. I think in this case the scam is that they didn't attribute the software to its rightful creators and by being so opaque about the workings of the device led people to believe that it was something proprietary.
they stole open source code, rebranded it as their own, and consciously led people to believe that this was more than a freely available bootloader, then charged ridiculous amounts of money for it... it's difficult to see this as a genuine and honest business practice.
How do I make my own?
Quote - (houlty @ Sep 9 2009, 00:10)
they stole open source code, rebranded it as their own, and consciously led people to believe that this was more than a freely available bootloader, then charged ridiculous amounts of money for it... it's difficult to see this as a genuine and honest business practice.
Right, that's the part to take issue with and is what I was saying. If they had made it clear that the product/service they were offering was configuring and installing freely available software for convenience and providing support it wouldn't matter how much they charged: $1, $280, or $2,800.
Quote - (Unrealistic @ Sep 9 2009, 11:13)
How do I make my own?
couldnt you just clone the drive? if it is just USB key....
Regardless, what they did was deceptive and unethical (in a business sense).
Just another tech company exploiting people's ignorance tbh.
Wait, wait, wait...I'm not sure I understand this. I was actually going to buy one of these a few months ago but the price totally put me off. I was of the impression it made your PC behave such that you could install OSX as you would on a true Mac with no additional kexts needed or other hackintosh fixes, such that it was running natively. Is that not the case?
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
I kinda suspected when I heard about all the encryption on the firmware. "Building your own" should be as simple as installing Chameleon/Boot-132 on a USB stick and setting your computer to boot from USB devices first. You could even hot-glue it to the inside of your computer and plug it into a header cable to make it tidy.
No, that is the case. EFI-X most likely just had the standard 'hidden' kexts or EFI strings.
Quote - (grantsteele @ Sep 8 2009, 19:31)
Wait, wait, wait...I'm not sure I understand this. I was actually going to buy one of these a few months ago but the price totally put me off. I was of the impression it made your PC behave such that you could install OSX as you would on a true Mac with no additional kexts needed or other hackintosh fixes, such that it was running natively. Is that not the case?
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
No, that is the case. EFI-X most likely just had the standard 'hidden' kexts or EFI strings.
Quote - (grantsteele @ Sep 9 2009, 00:31)
Wait, wait, wait...I'm not sure I understand this. I was actually going to buy one of these a few months ago but the price totally put me off. I was of the impression it made your PC behave such that you could install OSX as you would on a true Mac with no additional kexts needed or other hackintosh fixes, such that it was running natively. Is that not the case?
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
not exactly, as they were very specific about the compatible hardware, and as you can imagine the list of hardware wasn't very extensive.
I just read the article in full. All I can say is
UMMMMMMMAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
UMMMMMMMAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
wow, just wow
i almost bought one a while ago and held off and did everything following some guides on insanelymac
got lucky i can say
i almost bought one a while ago and held off and did everything following some guides on insanelymac
got lucky i can say
Wow. I was looking at the EFI-X modules awhile ago and quite impressed, and it was really the work of the OSX86 project? lol
Quote - (Unrealistic @ Sep 8 2009, 16:13)
How do I make my own?
+1. Anyone have a link to a good guide?
To make your own you need someone with a Mac. I bought Snow Leopard upgrade and got a friend to "restore" the Snow Leopard disc to an 8Gb USB Memory key, i then downloaded the Chameleon bootloader which is similar to Boot 132 and then imaged that onto the boot of the USB key now i have my own "EFI-X" with built in Installation disc should i ever need to format, theres even a place on the stick where i can put all the kexts i need if i ever change my motherboard, just boot up with the USB and i have an option to boot the install, boot osx or boot windows, its great and it only cost me the price of a USB memory stick and Snow Leopard.
I followed this tutorial, though if you already have the Snow Leopard disc you could just install Chameleon onto a tiny USB stick you have lying around and boot from the DVD, i wanted to have it all on one stick though for convenience.
I followed this tutorial, though if you already have the Snow Leopard disc you could just install Chameleon onto a tiny USB stick you have lying around and boot from the DVD, i wanted to have it all on one stick though for convenience.
Quote - (Richard Hammond @ Sep 26 2009, 02:44)
To make your own you need someone with a Mac. I bought Snow Leopard upgrade and got a friend to "restore" the Snow Leopard disc to an 8Gb USB Memory key, i then downloaded the Chameleon bootloader which is similar to Boot 132 and then imaged that onto the boot of the USB key now i have my own "EFI-X" with built in Installation disc should i ever need to format, theres even a place on the stick where i can put all the kexts i need if i ever change my motherboard, just boot up with the USB and i have an option to boot the install, boot osx or boot windows, its great and it only cost me the price of a USB memory stick and Snow Leopard.
I followed this tutorial, though if you already have the Snow Leopard disc you could just install Chameleon onto a tiny USB stick you have lying around and boot from the DVD, i wanted to have it all on one stick though for convenience.
I followed this tutorial, though if you already have the Snow Leopard disc you could just install Chameleon onto a tiny USB stick you have lying around and boot from the DVD, i wanted to have it all on one stick though for convenience.
Thanks. So there's no way at all to do it from within Windows?
Quote - (Ji@nBing @ Sep 26 2009, 11:02)
Thanks. So there's no way at all to do it from within Windows?
No but it you have Linux installed you can use Linux to install the boot loader to your USB key and use that to boot the Snow leopard DVD that is cloned to a Hard drive or a 8GB USB key. or you could use Boot132 that uses a CD to hold the bootloader and kext to make your Snow Leopard DVD boot for installing.
Quote - (grantsteele @ Sep 9 2009, 00:31)
Wait, wait, wait...I'm not sure I understand this. I was actually going to buy one of these a few months ago but the price totally put me off. I was of the impression it made your PC behave such that you could install OSX as you would on a true Mac with no additional kexts needed or other hackintosh fixes, such that it was running natively. Is that not the case?
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
For example, a lot of people with hackintoshes can't run Snow Leopard at the moment because of the lack of 64-bit kexts available. The way they were marketing this device was that it shouldn't matter - your PC is now a genuine Mac.
Hmmm. I must offer a counterpoint to all this negativity around the EFI-X. I bought one about 10 months ago and have had almost no issues with it. It took me 30 minutes to install the retail mac os 10.5.6 that I bought for $129 from best buy. I did not need any kexts or tweaks other than a couple of bios settings which are documented clearly on their website. I made sure to follow their recommended hardware specs as follows:-
GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel QUAD Core CPU
Corsair DDR2 Memory 2x2GB
It all worked fine, time machine worked flawlessly and i was able to upgrade to next version of the os without stuffing around with kext modifications or finding a friend with a mac hd and bribing them alcohol etc.
Compare this with the 2 months I spent prior to my EFIX purchase fiddling around with kexts night after night. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this process but never quite managed to get anything working properly despite the best efforts of the OSX386 community (non sarcastic thanks by the way) I am now in the process of building a mac without EFI-X and am looking forward to the umpteen Kernel panics and KEXT discoveries that I will hopefully make and share along the way. In balance I would say if time is money then EFI-x is not a bad option, especially if you don't want to invest a lot of time in the process and you are comfortable using the latest version of leopard and waiting until they have an update for Snow leopard. Finally even if i were a "genuine mac user" I would not be installing Snow leopard until at least 2 or 3 rounds of updates have fixed all the bugs that haven't been discovered yet.
Hope this is helpful. please don't feel sorry for me as my family an I are all happily enjoying the mac and especially enjoying having violated the EULA after all what's the point of having a line if you don't cross it
Lol...I read through the interview and found this:
Yes...a very powerful cpu, and several gigabytes of static ram in a case that small without any cooling or airflow...
How do people even fall for that?
Quote -
The EFiX is not a pen-drive at all. Inside it, there is a very powerful CPU and several gigabytes of dedicated static RAM. The module has its own code, language and endless functions. So there is absolutely no way that we even thought about using the patch-a-boo approach of "hackintosh
Yes...a very powerful cpu, and several gigabytes of static ram in a case that small without any cooling or airflow...
How do people even fall for that?
Not to mention that actual static RAM (memory that holds data for as long as its powered. The RAM in your PC does not do this and has to be constantly refreshed) is expensive and is generally measured in kilobits. Maybe they meant to say flash and gigabits. 256MB is 2Gb! Also, the ARM they stuck in their is reasonably powerful as far as microcontrollers go and totally overkill.
Quote - (cattwood @ Sep 29 2009, 04:10)
Hmmm. I must offer a counterpoint to all this negativity around the EFI-X. I bought one about 10 months ago and have had almost no issues with it. It took me 30 minutes to install the retail mac os 10.5.6 that I bought for $129 from best buy. I did not need any kexts or tweaks other than a couple of bios settings which are documented clearly on their website. I made sure to follow their recommended hardware specs as follows:-
GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel QUAD Core CPU
Corsair DDR2 Memory 2x2GB
It all worked fine, time machine worked flawlessly and i was able to upgrade to next version of the os without stuffing around with kext modifications or finding a friend with a mac hd and bribing them alcohol etc.
Compare this with the 2 months I spent prior to my EFIX purchase fiddling around with kexts night after night. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this process but never quite managed to get anything working properly despite the best efforts of the OSX386 community (non sarcastic thanks by the way) I am now in the process of building a mac without EFI-X and am looking forward to the umpteen Kernel panics and KEXT discoveries that I will hopefully make and share along the way. In balance I would say if time is money then EFI-x is not a bad option, especially if you don't want to invest a lot of time in the process and you are comfortable using the latest version of leopard and waiting until they have an update for Snow leopard. Finally even if i were a "genuine mac user" I would not be installing Snow leopard until at least 2 or 3 rounds of updates have fixed all the bugs that haven't been discovered yet.
Hope this is helpful. please don't feel sorry for me as my family an I are all happily enjoying the mac and especially enjoying having violated the EULA after all what's the point of having a line if you don't cross it
GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel QUAD Core CPU
Corsair DDR2 Memory 2x2GB
It all worked fine, time machine worked flawlessly and i was able to upgrade to next version of the os without stuffing around with kext modifications or finding a friend with a mac hd and bribing them alcohol etc.
Compare this with the 2 months I spent prior to my EFIX purchase fiddling around with kexts night after night. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this process but never quite managed to get anything working properly despite the best efforts of the OSX386 community (non sarcastic thanks by the way) I am now in the process of building a mac without EFI-X and am looking forward to the umpteen Kernel panics and KEXT discoveries that I will hopefully make and share along the way. In balance I would say if time is money then EFI-x is not a bad option, especially if you don't want to invest a lot of time in the process and you are comfortable using the latest version of leopard and waiting until they have an update for Snow leopard. Finally even if i were a "genuine mac user" I would not be installing Snow leopard until at least 2 or 3 rounds of updates have fixed all the bugs that haven't been discovered yet.
Hope this is helpful. please don't feel sorry for me as my family an I are all happily enjoying the mac and especially enjoying having violated the EULA after all what's the point of having a line if you don't cross it
I'm sure the first few people in on a pyramid scheme have nothing good to say as-well
Lets just be clear this thing was a scam from start to finish. They took other peoples work and said it was there own, they made several versions of the hardware which was the same exact hardware with some new soldering and different software, they absolutely 100% lied about what the device actually is and does and also what is inside it and they charged over 100x more than it actually costs to make.
Quote - (Vice @ Sep 29 2009, 01:50)
I'm sure the first few people in on a pyramid scheme have nothing good to say as-well
Lets just be clear this thing was a scam from start to finish. They took other peoples work and said it was there own, they made several versions of the hardware which was the same exact hardware with some new soldering and different software, they absolutely 100% lied about what the device actually is and does and also what is inside it and they charged over 100x more than it actually costs to make.
Lets just be clear this thing was a scam from start to finish. They took other peoples work and said it was there own, they made several versions of the hardware which was the same exact hardware with some new soldering and different software, they absolutely 100% lied about what the device actually is and does and also what is inside it and they charged over 100x more than it actually costs to make.
+1. Even though I've never bought anything from them, I'd like to see them get sued out of oblivion and hopefully justice will be served one way or another. People who do things like this should get prison sentences.
Quote - (cattwood @ Sep 29 2009, 03:10)
Hmmm. I must offer a counterpoint to all this negativity around the EFI-X. I bought one about 10 months ago and have had almost no issues with it. It took me 30 minutes to install the retail mac os 10.5.6 that I bought for $129 from best buy. I did not need any kexts or tweaks other than a couple of bios settings which are documented clearly on their website. I made sure to follow their recommended hardware specs as follows:-
GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel QUAD Core CPU
Corsair DDR2 Memory 2x2GB
It all worked fine, time machine worked flawlessly and i was able to upgrade to next version of the os without stuffing around with kext modifications or finding a friend with a mac hd and bribing them alcohol etc.
Compare this with the 2 months I spent prior to my EFIX purchase fiddling around with kexts night after night. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this process but never quite managed to get anything working properly despite the best efforts of the OSX386 community (non sarcastic thanks by the way) I am now in the process of building a mac without EFI-X and am looking forward to the umpteen Kernel panics and KEXT discoveries that I will hopefully make and share along the way. In balance I would say if time is money then EFI-x is not a bad option, especially if you don't want to invest a lot of time in the process and you are comfortable using the latest version of leopard and waiting until they have an update for Snow leopard. Finally even if i were a "genuine mac user" I would not be installing Snow leopard until at least 2 or 3 rounds of updates have fixed all the bugs that haven't been discovered yet.
Hope this is helpful. please don't feel sorry for me as my family an I are all happily enjoying the mac and especially enjoying having violated the EULA after all what's the point of having a line if you don't cross it
GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel QUAD Core CPU
Corsair DDR2 Memory 2x2GB
It all worked fine, time machine worked flawlessly and i was able to upgrade to next version of the os without stuffing around with kext modifications or finding a friend with a mac hd and bribing them alcohol etc.
Compare this with the 2 months I spent prior to my EFIX purchase fiddling around with kexts night after night. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this process but never quite managed to get anything working properly despite the best efforts of the OSX386 community (non sarcastic thanks by the way) I am now in the process of building a mac without EFI-X and am looking forward to the umpteen Kernel panics and KEXT discoveries that I will hopefully make and share along the way. In balance I would say if time is money then EFI-x is not a bad option, especially if you don't want to invest a lot of time in the process and you are comfortable using the latest version of leopard and waiting until they have an update for Snow leopard. Finally even if i were a "genuine mac user" I would not be installing Snow leopard until at least 2 or 3 rounds of updates have fixed all the bugs that haven't been discovered yet.
Hope this is helpful. please don't feel sorry for me as my family an I are all happily enjoying the mac and especially enjoying having violated the EULA after all what's the point of having a line if you don't cross it
yeah and your a new member with 1 post do you realy think people will beleave you?
Quote - (Unrealistic @ Sep 8 2009, 23:13)
How do I make my own?
hasnt it been done already? lol
Not really a scam, a scam implies you either never receive something or you do but it doesnt work, EFI-X does its job, you dont have to mess around with drivers, assuming you have hardware on the compatibility list you just plug it in, put the retail OSX in your drive and install, sure you can make your own EFI-X but for those that dont want to they can just buy a ready made device without hassle.
id rather make my own than pay for an over priced pos
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